Ukrainian former Eurovision winner Jamala: “The Kremlin is trying to scare me” | music
Moscow accuses the singer of spreading false information about the Russian armed forces. “They are trying to stop me or scare me,” Jamala thinks. “But I firmly believe that I can live my life as an artist, as a musician, as a songwriter, the way I want.”
Forty-year-old Jamala finds it annoying for her family. “I don’t care much about myself because performing is my way of using my voice, helping my country and telling my truth. But it’s stressful for my family, my parents and my children. I’m worried about them.”
If Moscow tries to track her down, Jamala believes it won’t be too difficult. She points out that she performs all over the world and that this shows on social media. “Three days ago I was in Washington. Five days ago in Paris. All information about me can be found.”
Jamala is of Crimean Tatar descent and has been campaigning for that minority in Crimea for years. Her Eurovision winning song was called 1944 It refers to the time when Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin deported nearly 200,000 Crimean Tatars to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, among other things. Jumala’s victory came two years after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula.
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